Sunday, July 13, 2025

My Review for Welcome to Glorious Tuga by Francesa Segal read by Kristin Atherton

July 13, 2025  , , , , , , ,  No comments

'Charlotte was alone in the jungle with a creep in Speedos'!

I switched between reading and listening to this one, simply because I had so much stuff to do in the garden and I really wanted to finish it. It was gorgeous, in fact no, it was 'glorious'! Charlotte takes up the position of tortoise researcher on the remote island of Tuga, where you can only come and go when the island is 'open'. Even then, only if there is a boat with enough berths to take you. For half the year, the island is 'closed'. The storms are too frequent for it to be safe for any ship to dock safely in Tuga. So if you're there, you're stuck - no matter what happens!

There are a lot of stories, interwoven into this book, each one unique in its own way, and I loved this. I enjoyed hearing about all the different characters and how they were surviving, living on such a small island, where everyone knows everyone else's business. I'm not sure if I'd like that, where do you go to escape?!

If you fancy a mash-up of The Durrells, James Herriott and a gorgeous sun-soaked island, then I'd recommend reading this, the first in a new series.  

Thank you to Vintage Books for the gifted copy of Welcome to Glorious Tuga by Francesca Segal.

About the Book

Passionate about conservation and fleeing an argument with her mother, newly qualified London vet Charlotte Walker has taken up a fellowship on the tiny South Atlantic island of Tuga de Oro to study the endangered gold coin tortoises in the jungle interior. She can claim the best of reasons for this year in paradise—What better motivation than to save a species?—but the reality is more complex. For Charlotte has secretly come to believe that she has her own connection to this remote and eccentric community, and she is finally determined to solve the mystery that has dominated her life.

But she will have little time for any of her declared or covert investigations. She is inconveniently attracted to the new island doctor. And not only do Tuga’s tortoises need attention but so too do the island’s dogs, goats, and donkeys—not to mention the islanders themselves, determined to win Charlotte over with cake and homemade jam until she relents and becomes vet to all their animals.

A complete, vivid world unto itself, Welcome to Glorious Tuga is a bewitching combination of warmth and humor. Immersive and uplifting, it transports the reader to an island that time forgot, bringing to life a cast of flawed, loveable people, like a contemporary James Herriot beneath the coconut palms.


About Francesa

Francesca Segal is an award-winning writer and journalist. She is the author of two critically acclaimed novels, The Innocents (2012) and The Awkward Age (2017), and a memoir of NICU motherhood, Mother Ship (2019). Her writing has won the 2012 Costa First Novel Award, a Betty Trask Award, and been longlisted for the Women's Prize.





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Thursday, July 10, 2025

My Review for Luminiferous: The Omen of Light by Yana Metro

July 10, 2025  , , , ,  No comments


'The first thing a gargoyle eats after coming alive becomes its sole diet'. "What exactly did she eat?' 'Erm...strawberry cookies.'

Omen of Light is the first book, in a planned seven-part series and I really enjoyed it. Think ACOTAR crossed with Harry Potter quests and battles. There was a sort of resemblance to dementors in the story and Hairito reminded me a little bit of Dobby - although I only just thought of that!

Lilly is our protagonist, and she's only eighteen. I forgot that as I disappeared into the forests with the adventurers on their quest for Luminiferous. For such a young girl, she has a good head on her shoulders, she doesn't panic - much, and is determined to rid the worlds of the dark creatures known as noxes. 

I enjoyed the world building, which wasn't too complicated, and sets the scene for the following books to come. I have the second one, sitting on my bookshelf and I really hope there are more to come.

Thank you to Yana Metro for the gifted copy of Luminiferous: The Omen of Light.


About the book

PARALLEL WORLDS. FORBIDDEN LOVE. A DEADLY QUEST THAT COULD DESTROY THEM ALL

At just eighteen, Lilly White has lived multiple lives. She endured the harsh reality of growing up in an English orphanage, isolated and unwanted. But paradoxically, visions and dreams of lush forests, mystical creatures and most troubling of all – a warm, loving family. Lilly doesn’t know if these are the delusions of a lonely mind, or something more.

When a man with a raven reveals a portal to a lost world, she finally gets proof she is not insane. But for all the ethereal beauty of this impossible place, a toxic darkness creeps closer, consuming everything in its path.

Caught between the desire to belong and the need to fight an evil that threatens all of existence, Lilly uncovers gifts within herself she never imagined.

But some truths are hidden for your own good…

Now she is thrust into a mission to save two worlds with non-existent odds of survival. Yet it’s either that or a fate worse than death.

About Yana

A PhD in Physics, Yana spent years as a nano-researcher before diving into exploration of existential mysteries through fictional characters and magical worlds. Her debut series LUMINIFEROS unites contemporary fantasy and romance in a thrilling seven-part journey of self-discovery. She lives in the urban jungles of London but dreams of lush coniferous forests stretching beneath leaden clouds that almost constantly curtain the sky.



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Sunday, July 6, 2025

My Review for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling, read by Stephen Fry

July 06, 2025  , , ,  No comments


'It does not do to dwell on dreams, and forget to live'.

The Harry Potter books are one of my most favourite series and whenever I need a pick-me-up, this is something which I always turn to. The audiobooks, read by Stephen Fry are particularly addictive, and I'm using my Audible credits to get them all.

I love the incredibly dry sense of humour that adorns Dumbledore, I relish in Professor McGonagall's strength of character and no-nonsense attitude. To say she reminds me of my most favourite boss is an understatement. 

Hogwarts and everything about it is magical, enchanting, and captivating. Everyone who loves Harry Potter wants to visit Hogwarts, even if just for a few days, to see everything, from the talking portraits to the moving staircases and the delicious food that appears from nowhere. 

Stephen Fry is one of my most favourite people to narrate an audiobook. The easy way in which he falls into character, time, and time again is beguiling, and I will never tire of listening.

I am excited to watch the new series when it comes out. I am going to try not to go in with any expectations, but with an open mind to embrace new actors. 

If you have never read the Harry Potter books, and you like a bit of witchcraft and wizardry - then what are you waiting for?!!!

About the Book

Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive. Addressed in green ink on yellowish parchment with a purple seal, they are swiftly confiscated by his grisly aunt and uncle. Then, on Harry's eleventh birthday, a great beetle-eyed giant of a man called Rubeus Hagrid bursts in with some astonishing news: Harry Potter is a wizard, and he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. An incredible adventure is about to begin!


About Joanne

Joanne Rowling was born on 31st July 1965 at Yate General Hospital near Bristol, and grew up in Gloucestershire in England and in Chepstow, Gwent, in south-east Wales.

Her father, Peter, was an aircraft engineer at the Rolls Royce factory in Bristol and her mother, Anne, was a science technician in the Chemistry department at Wyedean Comprehensive, where Jo herself went to school. Anne was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when Jo was a teenager and died in 1990, before the Harry Potter books were published. Jo also has a younger sister, Di.

The young Jo grew up surrounded by books. “I lived for books,’’ she has said. “I was your basic common-or-garden bookworm, complete with freckles and National Health spectacles.”

Jo wanted to be a writer from an early age. She wrote her first book at the age of six – a story about a rabbit, called ‘Rabbit’. At just eleven, she wrote her first novel – about seven cursed diamonds and the people who owned them.

Jo studied at Exeter University, where she read so widely outside her French and Classics syllabus that she clocked up a fine of £50 for overdue books at the University library. Her knowledge of Classics would one day come in handy for creating the spells in the Harry Potter series, some of which are based on Latin.

Her course included a year in Paris. “I lived in Paris for a year as a student,” Jo tweeted after the 2015 terrorist attacks there. “It’s one of my favourite places on earth.”

After her degree, she moved to London and worked in a series of jobs, including one as a researcher at Amnesty International. “There in my little office I read hastily scribbled letters smuggled out of totalitarian regimes by men and women who were risking imprisonment to inform the outside world of what was happening to them.” She said later. “My small participation in that process was one of the most humbling and inspiring experiences of my life.”

Jo conceived the idea of Harry Potter in 1990 while sitting on a delayed train from Manchester to London King’s Cross. Over the next five years, she began to map out all seven books of the series. She wrote mostly in longhand and gradually built up a mass of notes, many of which were scribbled on odd scraps of paper.

Taking her notes with her, she moved to northern Portugal to teach English as a foreign language, married Jorge Arantes in 1992 and had a daughter, Jessica, in 1993. When the marriage ended later that year, she returned to the UK to live in Edinburgh, with Jessica and a suitcase containing the first three chapters of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

In Edinburgh, Jo trained as a teacher and began teaching in the city’s schools, but she continued to write in every spare moment.

Having completed the full manuscript, she sent the first three chapters to a number of literary agents, one of whom wrote back asking to see the rest of it. She says it was “the best letter I had ever received in my life.”

The book was first published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books in June 1997, under the name J.K. Rowling.

The “K” stands for Kathleen, her paternal grandmother’s name. It was added at her publisher’s request, who thought a book by an obviously female author might not appeal to the target audience of young boys.



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My Review for Don't Believe Her by Nicola Sanders, read by Jodie Harris

July 06, 2025  , , , ,  No comments


'Oh my god. This woman is like a sorceress. She has enchanted them all'.

This one had my head spinning around and around from the very beginning to the very end. I think I honestly suspected every single character in the book of being the fruity-loop mad one who was lying - did I get it right - ever? No, not really, not until right at the very end when it was becoming apparent anyway. Kudos to Nicola for keeping me guessing. 

I can't say that I particularly liked any of the characters, there were devious sides to them all, lies that they all told, and judgments that were made with no thought for the people being judged. However, the unlikeable characters definitely brought that added extra to the story and were brilliantly thought out and written. 

Praise to Jodie Harris for her narration. Her investment in the characters, had me even more invested than I would have been if I'd simply read it. 

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and Libro FM for the opportunity to listen to and review Don't Believe Her by Nicola Sanders.

About the Book

Everyone believes her. Except you.

My life has never been better. I have a beautiful little girl, and I am engaged to be married to the man I’ve had a crush on since I can remember.

So when Nick, my handsome fiancé, announces that his sister Carla is finally coming home, it’s truly the icing on the cake.

Carla was my best friend growing up until she ran away at sixteen. That was twelve years ago, and no one has seen her since.

Everyone is ecstatic about Carla’s return. But as I spend more time with her, I can't shake the feeling that something isn't right. Her behaviour is a little off, her childhood memories don't align with mine, and she's oddly evasive about her lost years.

But no one will listen to my concerns — not Nick, not Carla’s mother, Marjorie, not even our old friends. They all say I’m imagining things.

But I can tell something is wrong. And before long, I know without a shadow of a doubt…

It’s not her.


About Nicola by Nicola

Hi there, thank you for visiting my brand new page! I write psychological thrillers, which should be obvious by now 🙂 I live in Australia with my family plus all the magpies and the crested pigeons who make themselves very much at home. My books are available as ebooks on Kindle Unlimited, but you can get them as paperbacks and audiobooks too.

Thank you for stopping by 🙂





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My Review for Good Dogs by Brian Asman, read by Alex Picard, Erin deWard and Joe Hempel

July 06, 2025  , , , , ,  No comments


'Live, let live, and let the things that howl in the night, be'.

If you remember, you will know that I rarely read a synopsis, so I am presuming this ended up on my Libro FM list because I saw the word werewolf, and give me a book with a fluffy wolf in any day! 😂 What I wasn't expecting was the monster thing when the lycanthropes had to move, and live in a ghost town. I still have absolutely no idea what that creature even was, I just know I was rooting for the werewolves, every single step of the way.  

There is a big sense of family and supporting each other throughout this book. Delia is Mummy wolf and tries to do everything she can to keep the pack safe and hidden from humans. When the chips are down, they all look out for each other. Humans by day and wolves by night, no matter what they are, family always comes first - even if the little sister is the most annoying baby wolf there is!

Read this is you like a paranormal horror story, with plenty of scary parts, which especially come to life when you're listening to the audiobook when out walking down country lanes!!! 🐺

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing and Libro FM for the opportunity to listen to and review Good Dogs by Brian Asman.

About the Book

The debut novel from viral horror sensation Brian Asman, Good Dogs is a heartfelt and harrowing story of survival, belonging, found family, and the lengths we’ll go to protect it.

No one ever said being a werewolf was easy. Take Delia, for instance. She’s spent much of her life fighting against her own nature, plagued by nightmares of childhood trauma, and trying to find her place in the world. Many werewolves are just like her: ostracized by their families, forced to live alone and in secret as they await those nights when the Change overtakes them.

Becoming the den mother to an odd bunch of lycanthropes in Southern California isn’t exactly the answer Delia was looking for. But under the strict rules of the house, they are able to manage the Change safely, and hunt without endangering their San Diego suburb. And they aren’t lone wolves anymore, they’re a pack—a family.

But when one member’s carelessness leads to the discovery of a severed leg in their backyard, Delia and the rest of her family are forced to confront the cold, hard fact they’ve known all along—they don’t belong here. Their only option is to cover up the kill and head into the wilderness, far from people. There, hopefully, they can live out their lives without posing a threat to anyone else.

At home, they might’ve been apex predators. But in the wilds around Talbot—a town abandoned for a century—Delia and her pack aren’t the only ones with a savage bite …


About Brian

Brian Asman is a writer, actor, and director from San Diego, CA. He’s the author of the forthcoming expanded edition of Man, F*ck This House (and Other Disasters) as well as Good Dogs, Our Black Hearts Beat as One, I’m Not Even Supposed to Be Here Today, Neo Arcana, Nunchuck City, Jailbroke, and Return of the Living Elves. He’s recently published short stories in American Cannibal, The Dark Waves of Winter, DreadPop, Pulp Modern, Kelp, and comics in Tales of Horrorgasm. 

A film he co-wrote and produced, A Haunting in Ravenwood, is available now on DVD and VOD from Breaking Glass. His short “Reel Trouble” won Best Short Film at Gen Con 2022 and Best Horror Short at the Indie Gathering.

Brian holds an MFA from UCR-Palm Desert. He’s represented by Dunham Literary, Inc. 














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My Review for The Re-Write by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn, read by Faith Alabi

July 06, 2025  , , , , , , ,  No comments


'The Wale who was the type of prince who would hand me his own sword to help me slay my dragons'.

I adored this one. I have Yinka on my TBR, but I just haven't managed to get around to it yet. This one came up on Libro FM, and so I grabbed it. 

Temi and Wale are as cute as. Annoying with their miscommunication, and there were so many times I wanted to grab both of them and shake them until eventually the words would pour out of them. 😂 Temi - just be honest for heaven's sake and Wale - you need to learn to listen, ask questions and not jump to conclusions!

I loved that Temi names her glasses and puts on a different pair, depending on how she wants to feel/who she wants to be that day. What an inspiring idea! I appreciated Lizzie writing so openly about sexual harassment, racial discrimination and body image, and how positivity emanated from all the negativity as the book progressed. 

Faith Alabi was an inspired choice for the narrator for The Re-Write. With her ability to switch between no accent and a Nigerian accent, it brought the book to life and made the characters even more adorable than they already were.

Thank you to Penguin Books and Libro FM for the opportunity to listen to and review The Re-Write by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn.

About the Book

ONE STORY. TWO EXES. CAN THEY CHANGE THEIR ENDING?

Temi and Wale meet in London. They flirt, date, meet each other's friends.
Then they break up. And Wale goes on a reality dating show.

Instead of giving in to heartbreak, Temi throws herself into her writing. She's within touching distance of a book deal that would solve all her problems. But publishers keep passing on her novel and bills still have to be paid. So, when the opportunity to ghost-write a celebrity autobiography arises, Temi accepts.

And, of course, the celebrity turns out to be Wale...

Will Temi and Wale repeat the patterns of their past? Or can they write a whole new story?


About Lizzie

Lizzie Damilola Blackburn is a British-Nigerian writer, born in Peckham, who wants to tell the stories that she and her friends have longed for but never seen – romcoms 'where Cinderella is Black and no-one bats an eyelid'. In 2019 she won the Literary Consultancy Pen Factor Writing Competition with the early draft of Yinka, Where is your Huzband?, which she had been writing alongside juggling her job at Carers UK. She has been at the receiving end of the question in the title of her novel many times, and now lives with her husband in Milton Keynes.




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Friday, July 4, 2025

My Review for Intended by Ingrid J. Adams

July 04, 2025  , , ,  No comments


'Nash lived his life in Caps Lock, crashing and bashing his way around…'

I adored the first two books in this series and the third is even better, although I don't think I've known how a book hangover feels until now. I don't know where to begin. Everything about Intended is gorgeous, from the red-rocks of Sedona in Arizona, USA, to the crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean in Sydney, Australia. 

I loved the nineties theme that has been running throughout this series, and to be reminded of so many things from my twenties. Life without the hassle of mobile phones, the internet and social media. 

This is one of the best fantasy series I have ever read. I have never been bored and wanted things to happen any faster. Told through multiple points of view, the book flows at just the right pace and the characters are loveable (well, most of them)! Cordelia and Indigo's beautiful relationship continues, and Robbie is probably still my favourite, even if he does lose his way slightly in this one. 

You'll be left on a huge cliffhanger at the end of this one, I didn't know whether to swear, cry or demand answers! If fantasy is your thing, then I urge you to read this series. They definitely need to be read in order, so go and put them all on your wishlist and let me know what you think.

Thank you to Ingrid J. Adams for the gifted copy of Intended.

About the Book

In the epic third instalment of the stunning series capturing hearts everywhere, Indigo and Cordelia are on opposite sides of the world. But distance means nothing when you’ve found your soulmate and your love is bigger than the cosmos.

All Indigo wants is to keep Cordelia safe, to protect her and their extraordinary love, but he knows that fate isn’t on their side. He’s figured out a way to fight destiny, to keep her with him this time around. Problem is, she isn’t going to like it…

Meanwhile, Indigo’s Akasha family face their own challenges: Dawn is fighting for her life. Nash is struggling with his gift while pining for Aurora, who’s hiding the identity of her latest beau. Robbie’s grief for his dad is threatening to tear him apart, taking his
newly-found love with it. And Raf is MIA.

Then there’s Reinenoir, hovering in the shadows, her obsession with Indigo and the title of Witch Queen growing evermore. Intent on restoring her powers to their former glory, she descends further into darkness and will stop at nothing to get what she wants.

In a world of true soul family, new allies and old enemies, is anyone who they seem, or will unravelling secrets break bonds thought to be timeless? In the end, can anyone truly fight their intended destiny?

About Ingrid

Ingrid J. Adams is the author of the descended four-book series, an epic love story steeped in fantasy set in the early 1990's on the beaches of Manly in Sydney, Australia. 

It took Ingrid a long time to realise her unattainably crazy dream of being a writer was in fact both attainable and sane; but between then and now, she's earnt degrees in business tourism, journalism, kinesiology and nutrition, studied psychotherapy, and worked in media, then as a therapist.

She also had a couple years off to lie in bed and stare at the ceiling after being diagnosed with an incurable disease she managed to cure herself of by going way outside the box, a disease she probably learnt more from than all her degrees put together.

Today she lives in chaos by the beach in Manly in Australia with her four beautiful boys (five if you count her husband), and her cuddle-hunting cavoodle pup. She's a massive fan of travel, yoga, meditation, farmer's markets, cooking (and eating), ocean-swimming, and escaping into fictional worlds of her own and others' creation.



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